Dan Reed has a brief note up about a new group at Microsoft the extreme computing group (XCG) which includes among its subject areas quantum computing:

XCG was formed in June 2009 with the goal of developing radical new approaches to ultrascale and high-performance computing hardware and software. The group’s research activities include work in computer security, cryptography, operating system design, parallel programming models, cloud software, data center architectures, specialty hardware accelerators and quantum computing.

Also in the news here. Microsoft, of course, has long had a toe in quantum computing, with Microsoft station Q in Santa Barbara investigating topological quantum computing and related models. Hopefully this bodes well for continued Microsoft investing in that most extreme of computational models (okay computing with closed timelike curves is probably even more extreme!), quantum computing.

Just imagine how worthless a quantum computer made/supported by *Microsoft* would be. What’s the quantum replacement for the blue screen of death? or the constant updates? Someone more clever than I needs to come up with a good answer…Maybe something about a blue screen of Schrodinger’s cat?